Dentists’ Prescription Patterns of Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs and Antibiotics: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Introduction: Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) and antibiotics are the most commonly prescribed drugs by the dentists; however, the prescription patterns, as well as the inappropriate use vary among dentists in different countries. Aim: This systematic review was done to evaluate the dentists’ prescription patterns for antibiotics and NSAIDs, using electronic databases. Materials and Methods: Dentists’ prescription pattern of NSAIDs and antibiotics were searched by two sets of independent reviewers from January 2000 to December 2016, using PubMED, MEDLINE and Scopus databases sources of published original/ review articles in English language published from January 2000 to December 2016, using NSAIDs, nonopioid analgesics, opioid analgesics, antimicrobials, antibiotics, dentists and prescription patterns as the key word search terms. The main outcomes included the type of antibiotic drug category, most frequently prescribed antibiotics and the prescription pattern of NSAIDs by dentists. Results: A total number of 145 studies were identified by our databases search, and finally 28 articles met our inclusion criteria. Our results showed that 24 out of 28 published studies which had the inclusion criteria for this study reported the antibiotic prescription pattern by dentists and the b-lactam antibiotics were the most frequently prescribed antibacterial drug category followed by metronidazole and macrolides. Amoxicillin (23 out of 24 studies) and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (15 out of 24 studies) were the most frequently prescribed antibacterial in most countries. Our results showed that ibuprofen was the most frequent NSAID drug (6 out of 7 studies) and oxycodone, hydrocodone were the most frequently opioid drugs (2 out of 3 studies) prescribed by dentists. Conclusion: Our results showed different prescription pattern of NSAIDs and antibacterial drugs by dentists in different countries; however, amoxicillin and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, metronidazole and macrolides were the most common prescribed antibacterial drugs and ibuprofen as the most frequently NSAIDs used by dentists. The empirical use of amoxicillin/ clavulanic acid in some countries could be an evidence for inappropriate use of antibiotics by dentists.

Keywords

• β-lactams
• dental complication
• drug category
• electronic databases
• non-opioid analgesics
• prophylaxis
• treatment